I was finalizing my skill selection, the passive skills that would be in the five "active" slots when Yui groaned and sat up on the bed. I don't think I've ever moved quite so fast.
"Papa?" my daughter mumbled as I caught one of the pillows that was about to fall from the bed and tossed it over my shoulder onto the other bed.
"I'm right here Yui," I said, grasping the hand that reached towards me tightly. It took everything I had to not draw her into an embrace, but she was likely still fragile, and I wanted- A tug at my arm drew me out of my thoughts, and when I looked down, Yui held her arms up.
She was warm, and oh-so fragile. I wanted so badly to wrap my arms tight around her, and never let her go, but that would only hurt her, so I settled for a somewhat looser embrace, feeling her breath and heartbeat against mine. She's okay, she's alive. I thought to myself.
We sat there for five minutes and thirty seconds before Yui started squirming, and I reluctantly let her go. When I did, she looked up at me very seriously and said "I need to talk with Ago- and Una-mama."
It was the work of a second to send off a message to Argo and Asuna that Yui was awake, but Asuna's response indicated that they wouldn't be back as soon as they could. I couldn't help but chuckle at the picture my wife had attached.
"What is it, Papa?" Yui asked, trying to duck around my arm.
"Oh, just Argo being Argo," I said, adjusting my hand so that my daughter could see the info broker in the middle of what appeared to be a furious rant at a familiar merchant who was shrinking back from the woman, even though she was about half his size. Why he was on the first floor, I had no idea, but whatever the reason, it didn't look like Argo was happy with it.
"Who's that?" Yui asked, pointing to the Black man, who stood head and shoulders over everyone else in the picture.
"Oh, that's Agil," I said, zooming in on the merchant so that Yui could study him.
"The mechant?" Yui tried to zoom in further, copying my gesture as precisely as she could. It being my menu, the picture remained static.
"The very same." My daughter continued trying to zoom in on the photo, her mouth twisting into a rather adorable pout as she grew increasingly frustrated. Even when she grew too frustrated and slapped my hand in her anger, it came off as cute.
"Oh, here." I sent off a quick message to Yui, who jumped when the *ding* of the message sounded in her head. I carefully guided her to the messages tab, and soon she was happily playing around with the photo.
With my daughter safe, awake, and occupied and nothing dangerous in sight, I allowed myself to relax, watching her fiddle with her menu. It amazed me just how easy it was to get lost in watching her sometimes.
"Look Papa, Agi's got a mustache!" Yui all but shoved her photo in my face, and I leaned back to avoid any undue impacts.
"Um, Yui, could you please move the picture back a bit?" I asked, lifting one hand up cautiously between my daughter's hand and me. "I can't really see it right now.
"Okay!" The picture was just about the same as the one I had sent her, with one glaring exception.
Yui had drawn a moustache on Agil's face.
I didn't realize there was a photo editor included with the camera. Maybe I could prank Asuna, send her an edited photo of her from our date. I pulled open the camera roll, and-
"Yui?" I asked, feeling rather unsettled.
"Yes, Papa?"
"Where's the edit button?" My daughter tilted her head quizzically, as though I was asking a silly question.
"It's right next to the picture, Papa."
Asuna weaved through the crowds, following her companion as she searched for food merchants. The BGM was light, airy, cheerful, and she hummed along to it as she walked, feeling happy despite the worry that gnawed at her heart.
I hope Yui's alright, Asuna thought as she ducked beneath a stack of planks being carried across the shoulders of two men. She and Argo had split up five minutes ago to cover more ground, with an agreement to meet back up at the entrance of the square closest to their inn.
Kirito's taking care of her, she'll be fine, The fencer reassured herself as she sidestepped out of the way of an apprentice merchant NPC barreling through the square, carrying a rather bulky crate. She double-checked her list of ingredients, having given half of it to Argo, and crossed off her latest acquisition.
She'd had a stroke of luck earlier, when she had found someone selling rare potatoes from the thirtieth floor on the First. She'd had to pay well over three times their market value to get them, but one couldn't skimp on quality ingredients.
"Let's see," Asuna hummed to herself, "I still need... Chicken of some sort, Oregano of a decent quality, and some tomatoes for the sauce." All of those things could be found here, albeit in lower quality than she was used to.
She was distracted from her musing by a familiar shout coming from nearby. "What do you mean you just ran out?" The fencer turned to see Argo berating a familiar merchant.
"Look, dude, She paid me-" Agil tried to explain himself to the furious Info Broker, but Argo wasn't hearing any of it.
"I don' care wha' she paid you!" The Rat shouted, "I promise' you quite a bi' ta hold on to 'em for me, and you wen' an' sold 'em!" Asuna's messages dinged, distracting her as Argo continued ranting, this time insulting Agil's integrity as a merchant and his willingness to follow through on deals.
Kirito's message was quite simple, and to the point, much like all his messages: Yui's awake, doing alright. See you soon.
Asuna leaned against a nearby market stand to support herself as sheer relief coursed through her body. Her daughter was okay. Unfortunately, she thought to herself, taking another look at Argo and Agil.
"...An' how the fuck do ya have the audacity ta back ou' on a deal less than an hour after…"
I think we'll be a while. The fencer concluded, taking a picture to attach as a way of explanation to her message back. Asuna then swiped her menu shut and stepped towards the irate Info Broker.
"Argo!" The Rat's head swveled so fast that Asuna thought that it might have been put on a top, and the Info Broker's face broke into a smile. It was a really cute smile, Asuna thought. "Are you doing okay?" The fencer asked, dusting a piece of lint off of Argo's shoulder. "Find everything you were looking for?"
"No," The Rat growled, glaring at Agil. "This moron wen' an' sold the Potatoes I specifically asked him to hold on to for me."
"Blame her," Agil countered, "She's the one who bought them." Asuna flushed as Argo turned a gobsmacked gaze on her face.
"I wanted 'em ta be a surprise," The Info Broker muttered angrily, leaning her head against Asuna's shoulder.
"It's okay," The fencer said, bringing one hand up to pat Argo's head. "I'm guessing you asked Agil to bring them in the first place?" The Info Broker nodded against her shoulder.
"Well, I've got some good news," Asuna said, as Argo shuddered and moved back to stand up straight. "Yui's awake." The Info Broker's eyes visibly widened, and her shoulders relaxed minutely. "So let's get the rest of our shopping done as quickly as we can."
"Yeah, let's." Argo nodded.
"Thank you for the potatoes, Agil!" Asuna called over her shoulder to the merchant as she and Argo departed.
"No problem, miss," Agil called back, "Just try and keep your shopping lists clear next time."
"Alrigh'," Argo said as they kept walking, "I'll go and get the-"
"Let's stick together, okay?" Asuna prempted Argo's attempt to split up by entwinging her arm with the Info Broker, who gave a sly smile as she did so.
"Aw, you wan' ta make this a date?"
"No!" Asuna said rather vehemently, though she thought it sounded weirdly hollow. "I want to keep anything like the Potato incident from happening again." she elaborated, "And it isn't like there's that much left to get."
"Shame," the info broker muttered under her breath, "I would have…" She shook herself before she could finish the sentence, trying to refocus. "Let's go, then." The pair set off towards a group of stalls nearby, still walking arm-in-arm.
It was fifteen minutes later that Asuna began to suspect that Argo was trying to sabotage their trip. The first instance could have been happenstance, as a merchant had just closed up and left right before they got there. The second one was confusing, when the stall had moved some 100 feet away from where Argo had said it used to be, and the press of bodies had delayed them a little.
And now, Asuna was all but certain that they had walked past the same stall three times already. "Argo?" Asuna said hesitantly, slowing down. "I think I saw a chicken seller over there." She pointed towards the chicken merchant she had spotted earlier.
"Looks like there is one," Argo said, her voice hesitant, somehow.
"Do you know the guy who runs it?" Asuna said, and shaded her eyes, trying to see if she remembered him from anywhere.
"Nah, not very well, at leas'," Argo said, and shook her head, "Let's get this over with."
"Look, if you don't want to talk to him, I can go and get it while you head home. I'm certain that Yui is missing you." Argo flinched as Asuna spoke.
"I though' ya wanted me ta stay?" The info broker tried to put on a teasing grin, but her heart wasn't really in it.
"Of course I do, but if you really don't want to talk to this guy, then you can hang back while I purchase from him, alright?" After a few brief seconds, Argo nodded.
Throughout the transaction, Asuna's mind kept wandering back to Argo's hesitance and what almost seemed like fear. If she hadn't seen the info broker scared before, she might not have even noticed it. I'll talk to her about it on the way back, The fencer decided as she finalized the transaction.
"Have a nice day!" The merchant, a rather jovial man called after her as she departed.
"You too!" The fencer called back, swiping her menu shut and scanning the crowd around her for Argo. The Info Broker was leaning against one of the houses on the nearest edge of the square, her hood pulled low over her face. It was very difficult to get a read on her when she was like this.
"You ready to head back?" Asuna asked as she pulled up beside the Info Broker. Argo stretched, and then assumed as neutral a stance as she could.
"As I'll ever be."
The journey home was faster than the journey to the market, in part because Asuna had gotten tired of Argo dragging her feet about a quarter of the way through the journey and started dragging her along by the hand. It was difficult, especially with the way Argo was sending out messages, but the fencer managed it for a while.
About halfway through the trip, Asuna tired of dragging her companion around, and instead sat down at a nearby bench, dragging Argo down with her.
"Are you okay, Argo?" The fencer asked, her brow furrowing, "You've been acting strange ever since you met Agil." When the info broker didn't respond, she pressed on, "If it's about the potatoes, I'm sorry. I didn't know you'd asked Agil to bring them for you."
"It's not tha'," Argo said, pulling her knees up to her chest, huddling beneath her cloak.
What else had happened around then? Asuna thought, tapping one finger against her chin, ignorant of the way Argo's eyes were drawn to it. Argo had only started acting strange around then, so it had to have happened. Oh, why was she being so obstinate? Yui was- Yui!
"Argo," Asuna began, placing her hand on top of one of Argo's so that she would be able to hold the Info Broker down if she tried to flee, "Is this about Yui?" She could see the small hitch in Argo's breathing, and knew that she'd hit the nail on the head.
"Argo?"
"Wha's there ta talk abou'?" The Rat spat out, "I made her fain', tha's all there is to it."
"Argo!" Asuna said, taken aback by the vitriol in the Info Broker's voice.
"Woulda' been better off if I wasn' involved. Never was good with kids." The Rat continued, less hateful and more resigned this time.
"Argo," Asuna said again, "Look at me." When the Info Broker didn't move, Asuna gently grasped her cheek, and turned The Rat's head so that they could look into each other's eyes. "I know that we haven't known Yui long, but do you really think that she's going to hate her 'Ago-mama' for something that isn't her fault?"
"But-" Argo tried to speak, but a finger on her lips silenced her.
"No, Argo, it wasn't your fault. You had no way of knowing that being in such an environment would hurt Yui, and now that we know better, we can avoid those places, ok?"
The Info Broker met Asuna's gaze for a few long moments, before casting her eyes away. "Okay, Aa-chan." Argo stood up from the bench, stretching her arms up over her head. "But if the squirt is angry at me, I'm usin' you as a shield, capice?"
"If that makes you happy," Asuna said with a nod, forgetting to stand up momentarily as Argo turned in just the right way for her face to catch the afternoon sun, illuminating a face that was normally covered in the shadows of her hood.
Beautiful, Asuna thought to herself as she prepared to follow her friend home.
Argo took a deep, shuddering breath as she stepped into the Golden Down, the inn where she was staying with Kirito and Asuna. That shopping trip had been a roller coaster in so many different ways.
Why are her hands so warm? Argo steadfastly avoided looking at the fencer, lest her consciousness be consumed by the memory of her smile, and the rough texture of her hands…
Focus! The Info Broker shook herself. It was easier, safer almost, to worry about how Yui was going to react to her.
It was a silly fear, one that had no basis in reality, Argo knew, but her thoughts returned again and again to the people who had died because the info she had provided was wrong. Almost every time, the people who had lost friends, and in more than one case, family, had blamed her.
She blamed herself far more.
She couldn't get it out of her mind, the image of Yui shouting at her, face flushed with anger as she laid out accusations at her feet.
"Liar!' Fareni's voice came from the squirt's mouth. "Should have known not to trust you," Griggs' voice continued, "What use is an Info Broker who can't ev-"
A warm weight fell upon her shoulder, bringing her out of the depths of her mind.
"Are you okay?" Asuna's kind gaze met her as she turned her head. Those eyes were almost hypnotic, inviting her to get lost in their warm depths, to sink in and entrust all her fears to the owner of the eyes. It took longer than she would have liked to admit for Argo to respond.
"Let's just get this over with."
"Look," Asuna, endlessly understanding, placed one arm around her back to reassure her, and to force her to move forward. "If, for some reason, Yui is mad at you, I'll talk to her about it, and try and get her to understand that it wasn't your fault."
"I didn' realize ya were so invested in our relationship, Aa-chan?" The second the words fell from her mouth, Argo wished she could take them back. That was four times now that she had implied a romantic relationship between her and Asuna. Not nearly as many times as she had implied one between her and Kirito, but they were married now, and they didn't need someone coming in and mucking it all up.
"I'm invested in your happiness," Asuna responded, and Argo felt her heart flutter in her chest. It wasn't fair that the objects of her affections refused to stop being such- such smooth-talkers! Did they have any idea how fast they made her heart beat?
The door to their room loomed in front of Argo, and she separated herself from Asuna, missing the warmth of the fencer's body almost immediately. But she had to do it. She had to distance herself from them.
"Ago-Mama!" A small missile slammed into the Info Broker, who barely managed to steady herself.
"Heya squirt," Argo smiled back, feeling a weight lift off of her shoulders.
I have almost caught up to my backlog, so updates will be slowing down a bit from now on.
